Video of Bobby Petrino talking about his new recruiting class where the Cardinals stressed defense

Jody Demling

02/03/2016

University of Louisville football coach Bobby Petrino spent 20-plus minutes talking about his recruiting class, which stands at 23 players from 10 different states. The Cardinals main focus was on defense.

Bobby Petrino was all smiles on Wednesday afternoon.

The University of Louisville football head coach announced his 23-player class, which includes eight players from Georgia, three players form the state of Kentucky and had a heavy emphasis on defense.

The Cardinals used the bulk of the on defense, signing five defensive linemen, three linebackers and three safeties among the class.

"This class that we signed today is what we started working on when we arrived here," Petrino said. "We felt like we really had to do a good job of getting our defense replenished. A year ago we got a lot of good offensive players, so going into it we went in with the idea of doing a really good job defensively. I'm really excited, it was a good day."

The U of L class includes three junior college players the Cardinals landed on Wednesday.

Long Beach Community College safety London Iakopo, a former Arizona commitment, is a four-star prospect and committed to the Cardinals in mid-afternoon, followed by Allen Hancock College running back Malik Williams and then former Georgia signee Gary McCrae, who played this season at East Mississippi Community College.

"I'm fired up," Petrino said. "Anytime we go out and recruit junior-college guys we are recruiting them with the idea that they are going to come in and compete to play or start. We tell them, 'We're not guaranteeing you anything, but the reason we're sitting here talking to you and recruiting you is we feel you have the ability to come in and help us right away.'"